In a comprehensive press briefing on August 22, 2024, Commissioner of Police Kanayo Uzuegbu of Enugu State Command outlined significant achievements in the state's fight against crime. CP Uzuegbu presented the arrests of over 123 suspects, the recovery of a vast arsenal of weapons, and the dismantling of criminal networks, including kidnapping rings and armed robbery gangs. He also addressed and refuted misleading social media reports concerning recent incidents, emphasizing the police's unwavering resolve to maintain law and order in Enugu State.
PRESS BRIEFING AND PARADE OF CRIMINAL SUSPECTS
AND EXHIBITS BY CP KANAYO UZUEGBU, psc (+),
THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, ENUGU STATE COMMAND, HELD ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2024, AT THE STATE COMMAND HEADQUARTERS, GRA, ENUGU
Protocol…
I am delighted to welcome you to this press briefing and parade of criminal suspects and exhibits. The briefing is imperative to update you on our recent operational achievements and actions underway to tackle security issues in Enugu State.
2. It is important to state that the police have remained undaunted in our quest to fight acts of crimes and criminality in the State to halt, not minding the quantum of fake news peddled on some security incidents.
3. Recall that a few days ago the social media became awash with all manner of narratives over the incident of the alleged kidnapping of some persons around the Enugu State College of Health Technology, Oji-River. The same thing happened over the unwarranted and senseless attack of a patrol team at 4-Corner, Ozalla, along the Enugu/Port-Harcourt Expressway. However, we remained unfazed by the numerous spurious and malicious narratives on the incidents.
4. Nevertheless, it is important to clarify that, contrary to the malicious and misleading viral narratives, there was no such case of the kidnapping of countless number of students at the College. Rather, the four persons, three of whom were not students of the school, allegedly kidnapped around the College on August 14, 2024, have all been rescued and reunited with their families.
5. Meanwhile, be informed that the suspects involved have been arrested and are undergoing interrogation. Also, the peddler of the unwarranted panic news on the incident has been traced and he has been apologizing for the mischievous act.
6. Similarly, the sinister plans of the IPOB/ESN secessionist renegades to attack the police operatives and cause collateral damage at 4-Corner, along the Enugu/Port-Harcourt Expressway, on August 18, 2024, were squarely thwarted by the operatives. The militants, dressed in security forces uniforms and operating in a snatched Lexus 350 Jeep, suddenly opened fire on the patrol team on approaching the operatives.
7. However, the operatives returned fire-for-fire and immobilized the Lexus Jeep, forcing the hoodlums to snatch a Toyota Camry car and escape the scene with varying degrees of gunshot wounds. Unfortunately, a Special Constabulary performing traffic control duty on the said road undergoing reconstruction, paid the supreme price with his life, while the team’s patrol vehicle was hit by bullets and engulfed in flames.
8. The two vehicles the militants snatched from their owners, in their usual way of hiding under the guise of secessionist agitations to inflict social, economic and psychological pains on fellow citizens, have been recovered. Consequently, a joint team of security operatives are on their trail.
9. Nevertheless, our dogged and frontal approaches to fighting crimes in the State have led to clamping down on the subversive criminal elements and other criminals, perpetrating acts of terrorism, murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, and other crimes. We will keep hitting them hard until they either repent or vacate Enugu State.
10. I, therefore, wish to sincerely appreciate the Enugu State Government, under the able leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Peter Mbah, for taking the bold and pragmatic steps of demolishing houses and facilities used in harbouring and perpetrating acts of abduction and kidnapping in the State.
11. It is heartwarming to note that this decisive and supportive action is in line with the provisions of the law of Enugu State. Moreover, the exercise will serve as a morale booster to us, especially as we execute our security operations and frantically work towards making Enugu State uninhabitable for kidnappers and other criminal elements.
12. We are particularly glad that the demolition of the identified houses and facilities in different locations of the State, hitherto used by criminals to perpetrate nefarious criminal activities, has started in earnest. We will continue to fish out these criminals and ensure that places serving as their haven are demolished accordingly.
13. Therefore, I call on citizens of Enugu State, particularly landlords, hoteliers, and owners of uncompleted buildings to be mindful of who they accommodate in such structures. This is to ensure that they do not harbour criminals whose activities could bring about the demolition of their building facilities.
14. Gentlemen of the press, in our unwavering determination to sustain the fight against unrepentant criminals in the State, yesterday, August 21, 2024, at about 5 p.m., Police Operatives serving in the Anti-Cultism Tactical Squad recovered an AK-47 rifle at New Artisan, Enugu.
15. The recovery followed the operatives' swift response to credible information alleging the milling around of suspicious persons in the area. The suspects, upon sighting the operatives, opened fire on them. However, the operatives promptly returned fire, forcing the hoodlums to escape with gunshot wounds and abandoning the rifle. However, a discreet investigation is ongoing to apprehend the fleeing suspects.
16. Similarly, on August 19, 2024, at about 1:30 a.m., a combined team of Tactical Police operatives busted a kidnapping gang hideout at New Artisan and arrested five (5) suspects. The suspects are currently undergoing interrogation and aiding further discreet investigations aimed at fishing out others at large.
Exhibits recovered from them include:
i. One (1) AK-47 rifle,
ii. One K2 Assault rifle,
iii. Twenty four (24) live ammunition, and
iv. Three (3) rifle magazines.
17. Also, on August 15, 2024, at about 2 a.m., operational and tactical Police Operatives of the Command raided the camp of the outlawed IPOB/ESN renegades at Aninwede Nkwubor, Emene, Enugu. The subversive criminal elements on sighting the operatives, opened fire on them. But the operatives returned fire at a superior level, neutralizing two of them, while others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.
18. Incriminating exhibits, including firearms the hoodlums snatched from security operatives after attacking them were recovered, while discreet investigations are ongoing to arrest those at large.
Exhibits recovered from them include:
i. Six (6) AK-47 rifles
ii. Six (6) pump action guns
iii. One (1) Dane gun
iv. Five hundred and twenty (520) rounds of 7.62 calibre ammunition
v. Fifty-four (54) rounds of GPMG ammunition
vi. Ninety-five (95) live cartridges
vii. Ten (10) rifle magazines
viii. Ninety (90) machetes
ix. Eleven (11) Motorola Walkie-Talkie sets
x. Thirty (30) Bulletproof clothing materials and twenty (20) Bulletproof metals
xi. Ten (10) helmets
xii. Two (2) Biafra/IPOB flags
xiii. Eleven (11) camouflage trousers and jackets each
xiv. Five (5) blue-coloured combat trousers
xv. Five (5) pairs of boots
xvi. Six (6) raincoat trousers
xvii. Seven (7) belts
xviii. Two (2) berets
xix. Sixteen (16) knee guards and other incriminating exhibits.
19. Furthermore, on August 17, 2024, at about 3:20 a.m., a combined team of the Command’s Police Operatives serving in the Awkunanaw Police Division and Anti-Cultism Tactical Squad arrested the following suspects:
a. Obumneme Amara “m”, aged 26, of Ikwo LGA in Ebonyi State,
b. Elom Chinedu (alias “Terry G”) “m”, aged 23,
c. Sani Usman (alias “Gburugburu”) “m”, aged 27, and
d. Onuh Emmanuel “m”, aged 26, all of New Cattle Market, Awkunanaw, Enugu.
20. The suspects were arrested following the operatives’ swift response to credible information, alleging that the suspects are part of an armed robbery gang perpetrating criminal acts in different parts of the Enugu metropolis. However, further discreet investigations are ongoing to arrest their cohorts at large.
Exhibits recovered from them include:
i. One (1) locally-made Berretta pistol
ii. Three (3) locally-made pistols
iii. Iron toy gun attached with a sharp dagger
iv. A Samsung television
v. Six (6) cartons of tiles
21. Additionally, Police Operatives serving in the Independence Layout Police Division of the Command, on August 21, 2024, at about 2 p.m., arrested three male suspects and recovered a suspected stolen tricycle and a motor vehicle gearbox. The suspects, who were arrested during the operatives’ routine surveillance patrol at Idume, New Phase 2, Independence Layout, Enugu. The suspects include:
a. Mohammed Mohammed, aged 27, of Thinkers Corner, Enugu,
b. Onyedikachi Okolo, aged 22, and
c. Mohammed Idris Sani, aged 22, both of New Artisan, Enugu.
22. Gentlemen of the press, it is important to inform you that between July 2024 and now, we arrested numerous criminal suspects for the offences of murder, armed robbery, kidnapping or abduction, rape or defilement, vandalism, stealing, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, cultism and so on.
23. Several incriminating exhibits were recovered during the operations, while many of the suspects have been arraigned in court and remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Custodial Centres.
24. A summary of the operational breakthroughs recorded in the period under review is presented as follows:
Total number of suspects arrested = 123
Abducted/kidnapped victims rescued =19
AK-47 and assault rifles recovered = 15
Pump action guns recovered = 25
Other firearms recovered = 35
Live ammunition of different calibres recovered = 710
Live cartridges recovered = 187
Motor vehicles recovered = 17
Tricycles recovered = 11
Motorcycles recovered = 8
25. At this juncture, I want to thank the good citizens of Enugu State for all their support. However, I enjoin them to continue to be law-abiding, vigilant, and support us with the credible and actionable information we need to actualize our goal of ridding Enugu State of all forms of crime and criminality.
26. I also urge leaders, particularly our community and religious leaders, parents and guardians to continue to watch over their children and wards, and to discourage them from associating with criminal groups and their activities. As we remain resolute to deal ruthlessly with criminal elements in the State.
27. To you gentlemen of the press, I say thank you for your unflinching support. Nevertheless, I urge you to continue to use your investigative prowess to support us and ensure you resist the temptation of becoming the fifth, instead of maintaining your enviable status as members of the fourth estate of the realm. This is because, working together, we can always have the safe, secured, peaceful and prosperous Enugu State we all desire.
28. Thank you for your time and attention.
CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, psc (+)
Commissioner of Police,
Enugu State Command.
